286
it will be seen that the expedition produced
no result whatever
owing to the incapacity and
the mismanagement of Chinese General and the non
arrival
of the promised troops.
4.
Seeing that little good
was to be gained by correspondence I went myself last week to Canton and had
an
interview
with the Viceroy during which he fully admitted the deplorable
state of things
upon
the court,
and expressed the greatest readiness to do anything in his
power to meet our
wishes. But it was clear that little
effectual aid was to be obtained from the Chinese Government in the suppression of the evil complained of.
To all
my
representations as to the necessity for vigorous measures His Excellency fully assented, but made the same reply, that the villages could be more easily dealt with from Swatow than from Canton, observing that we had Gun boats while he had none; and he begged that I
would take the matter into
my own hands. I pointed out
that I should have done so